Watch horror Movies for free with Amazon Prime

Oculus

Oculus movie
2014
7
Director: 
Mike Flanagan

SYNOPSIS: 

Ten years ago, tragedy struck the Russell family, leaving the lives of teenage siblings Tim and Kaylie forever changed when Tim was convicted of the brutal murder of their parents. Now in his 20s, Tim is newly released from protective custody and only wants to move on with his life; but Kaylie, still haunted by that fateful night, is convinced her parents' deaths were caused by something else altogether: a malevolent supernatural force unleashed through the Lasser Glass, an antique mirror in their childhood home. Determined to prove Tim's innocence, Kaylie tracks down the mirror, only to learn similar deaths have befallen previous owners over the past century. With the mysterious entity now back in their hands, Tim and Kaylie soon find their hold on reality shattered by terrifying hallucinations, and realize, too late, that their childhood nightmare is beginning again...

REVIEW: 

Do you chew your nails? Does it take you more than one effort to rip the band-aid off? Do you sometimes think you saw some stray object and then when you look again, think you were mistaken?

A series of small incidents, like the ones mentioned above, make the latest addition to the horror films genre, 'Oculus', an intriguing watch.
Directed by Mike Flanagan, 'Oculus' is based on an earlier short film by him, titled, 'Oculus: Chapter 3 - The Man with the Plan'.
The story revolves around an incident in the that took place in the Russel household, some 11 years ago. Siblings Tim Russel (played by Brenton Thwaites) and Kaylie Russell (played by Karen Gillan) are almost killed when due to events following the purchase of a certain large mirror, their parents go crazy. Their father killed their mother and Tim, as it appears, seems to have killed their father.
Tim is sent to a mental facility, and Kaylie is shipped off to a foster home. They meet a decade later, now in their early 20s, when Tim seems to have laid to rest his demons, and Kaylie seems to have harboured the old.
In an effort to prove that the things that happened to her family were due to the supernatural powers possessed by the antique mirror, Kaylie sets up booby traps across their old family home. She has spent her time tracking the mirror and has procured it and set it up in her old home, along with, cameras, temperature control, automated whacking devices, alarm clocks to remind them to consume food, water, etc. She wants document the activities of the mirror or whatever is possessing it.
"Hello again," Kaylie whispers to this piece of haunted furniture, adding tauntingly, "You must be hungry."
The idea of using electronics gadgets, family pets, plants and ghostly entities with glowing eyes, as tools of intrigue are not new, Flanagan does a fabulous job of the well-worn tools of torture.
Gillan as the tenacious, yet chirpily-obsessed Kaylie does a fantastic job. Thwaites as the younger brother Tim, is also flawless. Rory Cochrane and Katee Sackhoff as the parents are the perfect combination of middle-class tranquility that turns into a horrific tragedy.
The zig-zag narrative, with the scenes flitting from present to past, and a hazy line between reality, imagination and flashbacks, keeps the viewers on their toes. Without the use of loud background music, overtly-exaggerated sound-effects or blood and gore, the film's look and feel is sometimes too real for comfort. Of course, the absence of a solid "ghost" or "monster" figure just adds to the terror. Because you never know if something is real, or is the mirror just "playing tricks".
Try and catch the morning show if you don't want to have to locate your car in the deserted parking of the theater at night. Because 'Oculus' is a film that will definitely spook the audience to the bone.

SIMILAR MOVIES REVIEWS

OTHER MOVIES REVIEWS

Let It Snow

2020

A soft horror film produced in Ukraine, very beautiful on a visual level thanks to the spectacular locations in Georgia... a glacial setting, which instills no small amount of anguish and chill in the heart. Filmed in a classic style, it is a rather simple and short story that flows quickly without leaving any particular shivers, but some scenes are particularly anxiety-inducing and an unbearable and disturbing Christmas song acts as a background. The protagonist Ivanna Sakhno is very good.

Halloween Ends

2022

The film closes the David Gordon Green trilogy that began in 2018 and continued in 2021 with Halloween Kills, it is branded Blumhouse and this should be the last chapter (but will it really be like that we all wonder) of the saga that began in 1978 by John Carpenter. The era of Michael Myers ends, the most irrepressible killer in the history of horror cinema ever, mentor of every bloodthirsty masked homicidal maniac who came after him. There is certainly the intent to pay homage to the dark atmospheres of the progenitor film but also the desire to surprise, by inserting an... Read More

Immaculate

2024

Religious horror without demoniacs or exorcisms, played by the new American movie star Sydney Sweeney who also produces here and is the fulcrum of this film... she is perfect in the role with her angelic face that however in the ending, now a cult of this film, is transfigured thus becoming a great "scream queen" almost on the level of Isabelle Adjani in "Possession". Bloody tribute to the European horror of the 70s but more interested in the psychological aspect of the genre, it has the merit of showing without reticence the ecclesiastical community as a bunch of... Read More

The Deep House

2021

Yet another reinterpretation of haunted houses but rather original because the ghosts emerge from the bottom of the abyss this time. A high-tension film that involves you in first person... together with the protagonists we will always be underwater and we will feel like we can't breathe, we will feel trapped without the possibility of resurfacing... Highly not recommended for those who suffer from hydrophobia. The film is technically excellent and visually very beautiful and even if the story is simple and the characters stereotyped it still does not bore, perhaps also... Read More

Old

2021

Adaptation of a French graphic novel "Sand Castle" that Shyamalan wanted to make at all costs but with little means available. It is a low-budget film, and this is evident from the, unfortunately, anonymous cast. Too bad with at least one star as the protagonist surely the final result would have been even more interesting, however excellent psychological thriller/horror, distressing and at times chilling even if there is little of true horror ... It is an allegorical film that makes you reflect on critical themes for everyone such as the nature of time that passes... Read More